I'm Speechless...

Firstly Finn I want to apologise for hijacking your thread especially as I agree wholeheartedly with your comments

 

 

Considering the normal lifespan of a sim, more than ½ year waiting on the update to the first release version, where bugs WILL exist (I never expected it to be bugfree) is very long.

I particularly agree with your statement above; in fact I have been tempted to make the same point but as am not a developer I didn't feel qualified to do so. If you consider the lifespan of an add on to be five years, then seven months waiting for a service pack is over ten percent of that time span. On the other hand the extra features go some way towards redressing the balance. I could well be wrong but I am concerned that they may add to the out of memory problems 

It's a curious sense of entitlement that rears it's head around these products. The popular products, the revered products, the anticipated products. It's an uglier side of the human psyche and one which will never go away. I've experienced it myself - I curse Viber for still not having released an iOS 7 overhaul, I bemoan the lack of updates or material proof from Cultured Code on their next release of 'Things' and I've sworn incessantly at PMDG for the seemingly empty gulf where information on their 744v2 should be.

 

However, since I can now partially claim to be "on the other side of the fence", I've learned to keep my mouth shut. There seems to be a startling lack of respect for the developers which some individuals will try to turn around to make it seem like developers lack respect for their customers. I can assure you that any ranting and raving you may do will have absolutely no effect. The developers know when there is a worthy milestone which warrants some public broadcast, they know when it is prudent to disclose new information. They are not doing it to annoy you, to disrespect you, to drive you - they are doing it because they know the information they haven't disclosed will have no bearing or relevance. They won't do it because every minute detail will be analysed and incorrectly so.

 

What if Rob/Ryan at PMDG or Lefteris/Andrew at FSL posted a screenshot of a PFD that was still a work in progress, that had some imperfections, that didn't look quite like the real thing? You can bet any number of pounds that theories will start flying within minutes. Someone will start throwing around that the project is still years off; another will say the developers have no idea what they're doing; some cheeky people will even tell other people not to buy the product because it won't be worth it!! Huge arguments will start, spanning pages and pages of forums. Well, what if those imperfections in the PFD were simply part of a debugging display? What if all it took was one character change in the code to remove all the debugging and have a perfect representation? You don't know that yet you'll presume you know better and start mouthing off unnecessarily.

 

Take advice from someone who has seen both sides of the story - stop wasting energy, thoughts and high blood pressure. Time passes more quickly when you're having fun, so don't sit there angry and disgruntled because at the end of the day the product WILL come.

 

 

Now if you'll forgive the bleary-eyed rantings, I'm off to bed.

 

While I tend to agree with You, please note that I´m a FSX developer myself and has done alot of addons.

 

We have always shown alot of preview screenshots as well as keeping comming cutomers upto date on developement and I know very well how such preview shots are received.

 

You are right that that many people get the wrong impression when looking at unfinished preview pictures and I have seen all kind of feedback that clearly indicated taht they did not understand the meaning of "Preview" or beta state, but nevertheless I like to show preivew shots as well as getting fedback on features I plan to implement, cause that enables me and my fellow developers on a project to adjust and adapt stuff requested by future customers.

 

Offcourse this is really a matter on how each individual team like to communicate and I cannot claim that ours are more correct than the others.

 

But once a product has been released and there are paying customers You also have a damned obligation to fix stuff that doesn´t work as advertised within a reasonable timeframe and if there is some show stopping issues, these should be fixed with hotfixes, though I hate those myself.

 

Bottom line is that I'm fully aware that I´m not the one to tell PMDG how to run their business and all I tried to trigger was some reply on what's going on, which they also have done now with the weatherradar etc. announcement.

 

 

FinnJ

(...) -  all I have been asking for is some feedback. Feedback from the devs does not need to come numerous times a week, but I still think there has been alot of silence - thats the most major gripe I have.

 

(...)

 

Finn,

 

have you checked these posts by Robert S. Randazzo I provided the links for? PMDG actually had provided some updates on why the SP1 hadn't gone into wide beta yet.

 

 

Folks,

 

this isn't "nothing for 2/6 months":

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/436852-14mar14-forum-return-to-service-important-read-all/?p=2943032

 

http://forum.avsim.net/topic/436852-14mar14-forum-return-to-service-important-read-all/?p=2944894

Again - I couldn't agree more!!  But I guess that is how one become a " 9 Star" 9 I had to count them- WOW...in these forums. 7681 posts - really guy?  Do you not have anything better to do?  And ya - you come off as a TOTAL know it all.

 

I get that you had "other jobs" in aviation but I am not sure how working on the ramp entitles you to share a wide breadth of knowledge with little to no depth behind it.  Shocking as it may seem Kyle, people may not what to hear a diatribe from you each time they post something.  You sir are NOT the wiki for PMDG nor the resident expert.  However, I am sure that you know how to fly PMDG's simulation of the 777 really well.  If I need to know how to stick a hydrant truck on to an airplane, I will come and ask you - or if I am too lazy to read a manual from PMDG that clearly you have read cover to cover many times over - you can share your book smarts with me.  Or even if I need to know how many chocks to put under my tires when I am in Paris because I am not sure the rampies did it right - I will ask you!!

 

Unfortunately in this industry (that I am a part of and have been for many years) - experience is what matters - of which you have little to none of.  So go get some.  Go get a flying job and fly an airplane and make it all count - but check your ego at the door or someone will do it for you or worse you get in to an accident because you have convinced yourself you know something you don't.

 

Okay, for a while, I was going just let stuff like this slide (heck, I even supported your last argument), but since you've taken shots at me several times, I'm done with turning the other cheek.

 

Firstly, I find it terribly odd and backwards that you're going to criticize me for assuming I know a lot about something that I actually do know a lot about, but in the same thread, you're going to make a boat load of assumptions about me without knowing a single thing about me.  So who really has a problem with assumptions of knowledge?  What's funny is that you couldn't be any more wrong about me.  So, since you decided to question my background and - arguably - cast aspersions, I'm going to lay it out for you:

 

Experience has a lot more to do with experience in the industry in general - which I have about decade now  - and not simply hours.  Further, I'd argue that I have a lot more quality hours under my belt than most of the pilot mill commercial pilots who got their certs out of places like Arizona (read as: I've seen weather that most of those guys didn't see in training, and even some in their day to day jobs).  Beyond that, even if you had a chance to look at my logbook to see the amount of hours in it, it's missing a ton of hours that I wasn't able to log, because my aforementioned family member wasn't a current CFI and I wasn't a PPL or better for most of our flying.  I can't legally log that, but I certainly learned a ton from it.  Heck, I shot my first actual conditions approaches before I even had my PPL.  That doesn't matter though, surely.

 

You're right in that I worked ramp, but I've also worked positions that give me knowledge that you (and many other pilots) could only dream of having.  Or, perhaps you truly live in such ignorance and arrogrance that flying a big jet simply makes you better than everyone else who doesn't fly big jets.  Perhaps that's why you're always on my case: arrogance doesn't tend to like displays of confidence in others.  That would seem to fit quite well, in fact.  You and Nixon both seem to be affected by this, and then use me as a scapegoat.  It's almost laughable.  You may want to have a look at the psych concept of projection, because both of you are displaying quite a lot of it.

 

After working the ramp, though, I worked as an airport designer and planner for a company that's worked on projects from Dulles airport, to back woods airports that didn't even have a paved parallel taxiway.  As part of that, I evaluated and helped to ensure compliance of the physical facilities with the various TERPS requirements (read as "designed/evaluated instrument procedures").  Clearly none of that experience matters when flying, though.  Why would designing instument procedures help you fly them as a pilot???

 

From there, I went out to Arizona to work at a flight school, dispatching planes and ensuring training compliance and progress.  Sure, that doesn't help me much in the plane, but that gave me a real in-depth understanding of the requirements of legal dispatch in the FARs, training requirements per the FARs, and an understanding of how flawed the training environment (and the hours argument) truly is.  As far as the hours argument goes, we had a 250 hour PPL candidate at one point.  So, sure, that guy might brag about having a ton of hours later on, but the very fact that it took him 250+ hours to even get the basics of piloting an airplane essentially negates the "more hours in plane means more experience, which means I'm better" argument.  Nice try though.

 

After that, I moved back to Virginia to work with the FAA as a contractor on several projects where I gained in-depth knowledge of ATC (behind the scenes - again information I can nearly guarantee most others do not have), and other NextGen projects.  That ranged from traffic management, to airline-FAA (and occasionally Nav Canada - had to make sure to throw that in, just for you) collaborative planning, to traffic management tools, to developing RNAV RNP procedures, to evaluating ADS-B for reduced separation requirements at the center level, all the way to participating in the recommendation by an FAA team on how to best implement RTA in the FAA environment.

 

So, yeah, I think I have a lot of experience that most others don't have regarding aviation.  Whereas you seem to be content (and somehow asserting superiority, particularly in your last post) with the knowledge you've amassed from only being on the pilot side of things, I've taken that and expanded to other realms.  That doesn't make me better than you.  That simply makes me more knowledgeable about the industry overall.  While I'm not going to go off and question your knowledge about whatever big shiny aircraft you're typed on (which apparently somehow makes you more special/knowledgeable/experienced than me), I'm not going to stand by and attempt to be modest about what I do know.  I'm not going to stand idly by and be told that, since I have fewer hours in an airplane, I'm somehow less knowledgeable and should just bow down to anyone who sits up front and get paid for it.

 

Absolutely not.

 

Based on your assertion that I'm somehow of lower status simply because I don't have the hours that you do, I'll be very blunt in saying this:

You, sir, are what's wrong with this industry.

 

For all of your telling me to check my ego, you should really have a look at your last post.  If anything, you're the one with the ego problem.  Your simple dismissal of me based on hours is laughable.  In the end, remember this:

 

When the FAA had questions related to the future of air navigation (usually related to pilots, though also related to ATC/TM), they came to myself and the teams I supported.

 

Who the [he]ck are you???

Really guys? Some people on this thread got so butthurt, I might need another round to fully enjoy the posts. It shouldn't take more than a bottle.

Your what's wrong with this industry Kyle. You know a lot about nothing. Your right. I don't care why the SID or STAR is the way it is. As long as it get me to and from an airport. I'm good.

 

Bottom line is your a know it all. I haven't offered up one piece of advice on how to fly airplanes you'll notice - unlinke you

"You're" Dave.

 

:smile:

 

Kyle is a bit of a "know it all", even worse than me, and that's going some.  And like me, Kyle hasn't mastered the art of "economy of line".   :biggrin:

 

 

Your what's wrong with this industry Kyle. You know a lot about nothing. Your right. I don't care why the SID or STAR is the way it is. As long as it get me to and from an airport. I'm good.

 

Bottom line is your a know it all. I haven't offered up one piece of advice on how to fly airplanes you'll notice - unlinke you

 

Man, that was quite the retort.

 

...and hey, if it helps you sleep at night, you're right: I'm a know it all who knows a lot about nothing.

 

 

 

Think about that the next time you're flying an approach in hard instrument conditions.  The guy who designed that?  Yeah, he knew a lot about nothing when he designed it.  Have faith though.  That idiot will get you on the ground, no problem!

So do the approach controllers.

Better Kyle, better, much more economical.

 

Come on gents, you've both had a bash, I love you both. Make friends, love and peace man!!!

 

Both of you join in and bash me. I don't mind.

This reminds me of the time in kindergarten a kid threw a toy at my face and then told the teacher he hadn't. But worry not, after some arguing and probably some crying, I got payback with play dough.....

I just hope Kyle doesn't become a victim and decides; no beta video for u!

This reminds me of the time in kindergarten a kid threw a toy at my face and then told the teacher he hadn't. But worry not, after some arguing and probably some crying, I got payback with play dough.....

I wish I'd had some play dough handy in Nandos on April 1st. Some pesky bottom hole unscrewed the lid on the vinegar. I drenched my chips with half the bottle. I would have rammed that bloody play dough right up his...

I wish I'd had some play dough handy in Nandos on April 1st. Some pesky bottom hole unscrewed the lid on the vinegar. I drenched my chips with half the bottle. I would have rammed that bloody play dough right up his...

Oh no! Not on the Nandos!

 

I think I lost my play dough privileges for a little while, man I hated kindergarten.

 

Did Nandos give you more chips?